Tools
The six tools on Bidancer, in three families — connect and procure, market signals, and market presence — with what each is for and which one fits what you are trying to do.
Six tools. They are instruments for doing something, not parts of a system, and every one of them inherits the same platform rules.
They fall into three families, and which family a tool is in tells you what it is for: whether you are reaching someone, being found, or showing up in person.
Connect & procure
You know roughly what you want. These are how you approach somebody about it, on terms both sides have committed to.
Enquiries
A written requirement to one business you chose. Contact details exchanged only on acceptance, credits back if it goes nowhere.
Tenders
Publish a requirement, set who may bid, receive comparable bids, award on record.
Market signals
You publish what you can do, structured well enough that somebody can decide to approach you without a phone call first.
Product Signals
Goods, with specifications, variants and the context that makes them priceable.
Service Signals
Work, with scope and delivery terms rather than quantity.
Franchise Signals
Offerings and models, with investment bands that let unsuitable applicants self-select out.
Market presence
Being somewhere, in person, with everybody else who matters in your industry. A signal is passive and a show is not: you are in a room, on a floor, for three days, and so are your buyers.
How the three fit together
A signal is what makes you findable. A connect & procure tool is what somebody does about it. Presence is where both happen face to face and compress into three days.
The relationship between the first two is the most common cause of disappointment here. A business with thin signals receives vague enquiries, because vague is all anyone could infer from what it published. The fix is almost never to send more; it is to publish better.
Presence feeds the other two rather than replacing them. A lead scanned at a booth does not stay a business card — it continues as a real enquiry against a verified business, which is the point of running the show on the same platform as the rest.
Which one do I want
| If you are trying to | Use |
|---|---|
| Ask one specific business about something | Enquiries |
| Get comparable prices from several suppliers at once | Tenders |
| Be found by people buying goods | Product Signals |
| Be found by people buying work | Service Signals |
| Be found by people who want to run your brand | Franchise Signals |
| Meet many buyers in one place, or run that place | Trade Shows |
Sending the same enquiry to a fourth supplier?
You wanted a tender three enquiries ago. Tenders exist so the answers can be laid side by side against one specification.
What every tool has in common
Whatever you are doing, these hold:
- Verified participation. Both sides completed KYC before anything could happen.
- Paid intent. Actions that consume someone else's attention cost credits, so nothing here is free to spray.
- Contact privacy. Details appear on acceptance, not on interest.
- An auditable wallet. Every charge, refund and earning is on the ledger.
Learn those once in Platform and the tools only differ in what they are for.
How each tool is documented
Every one has an Introduction, a Quick start, a Costs page and an FAQ. The larger ones split further by who is acting — a trade show organiser and an exhibitor read different pages, and so do the sender and receiver of an enquiry.
Costs pages say who pays for what and what is earned back. They do not print figures: rates are configured centrally and change, so the pricing page is the one place they live.